17 years ago today – after months of research, planning and oh yea, building a house on a cookie cutter lot (I hear you judging), I moved my family of five to Snoqualmie. I was also 8 month pregnant with baby #4 as I tried to keep an eye on the kids, directed movers and looked around at the house that six months earlier had only been choices on paper.
HOME. Well, at least for 6 1/2 years. Then we got cramped and built another cookie cutter home. (I hear you still judging.) This time on a bigger lot with one more bedroom because baby #4 whom the ultrasound said was a boy turned out to be a girl and we ran into room sharing issues.
So as one of the worst recessions in history descended on the country, we moved to a new home a mile away. We designed and built our dream home and yard, finding probably as much privacy as you can in a master planned community. Woods behind us, room for a sports court and more space between homes.
My kids grew. My property value tanked, but we were happy.
My little kids turned into teenagers. One made me question my decision to become a parent for a while. We got bussed to North Bend for six years because Snoqualmie schools ran out of room. Looking back now, I am grateful. It was tough to change schools and start over in a new town, but the connections made were invaluable. Thank you, North Bend.
We watched Snoqualmie Ridge – once a place with no restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores or schools – become home to thousands of you. Our property value recovered and turned into property tax shock. We watched North Bend get its water rights back and cookie cutter developments push farther east as more of you decided to also call this beautiful place home.
My oldest went off to college. Then the second oldest left for the east coast. Then the next one went off to our alma mater – go Dawgs. That baby who was born one month after moving to Snoqualmie is now a junior in high school. The oldest now misses home and visits as much as possible.
I blinked and time raced by, but I still feel like I took it all in and enjoyed the ride. Looking back, I believe this place lived up to what I was hoping it would be when I said, “I think we should move to Snoqualmie.”
This Valley. The community. The people we’ve met. The friends we’ve made. The home(s) we built. Yup. It was the right choice.
So thank you Snoqualmie Valley. You lived up to the dream of young mom. You’ve grown. You’ve changed. But that’s okay. You’re home.
Comments
Very nice write-up!
I moved to Snoqualmie Ridge almost 15 years ago. I had moved from Canada to Redmond in 2001 as Microsoft had acquired the company I was with in Vancouver, BC. The usual Microsoft practice at the time was to assign you a “relocation specialist” to help you figure out where to live. The very first place she took me was this new up and coming community in a rural community known as Snoqualmie. Although I wasn’t ready to buy a place, I knew in 2001 that this was my future home, assuming I stayed in the US, which I was still NOT planning on doing. I immediately fell in love with the landscape, and feel, and the moderate growth plan.
I ended up staying in the US and in 2004 had saved enough for a down payment on a house. I couldn’t afford that much, but loved the idea of building my own home. I went for the customizable cookie cutter approach (okay, judge me) with a perceived lower-quality builder (okay, judge me again) but found a really good lot after staying over night in my car to be first in line when the new neighborhood opened up.
Almost 15 years later, here I am. Still here. Snoqualmie has been a terrific place to live, and is proving to be a terrific place to raise a child. I’ve had few problems with my cookie-cutter home (judge me one final time if you must) and the neighborhood has worked out great.
If I had to make a decision all over again, it would be the same. Snoqualmie is HOME and is a phenomenal place to live!